Mechanism for stopping reciprocating steam engines



Nov. 3 ,1 1,560,270 E. o. LUNDBLAD MECHANISM FOR STOPPING RECIPRQCATINC- STEAM ENGINES Filed Dec. 14, 192-5 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 7 711/63 rut 07" Nov. 3,1925- 1,560,270 E. O. ITUNDBLAD MECHANISM FOR STOPPING RECIPROGATING STEAM ENGINES v File Dec: 1'4. 1923 2 gnaw-shah 2 ITUL/e 711L074 Q Q ,Zt uM Patented Nov. 3, i925.

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EMIL 0. LUNDBLADQOF MEDIFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMIL O. LUNDBLAD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Med'ford. in thecounty of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Mechanism for Stopping Reciprocating Steam Engines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a mechanism for stopping reciprocating steam engines in cases of emergency and has for its object to provide a mechanism for quickly stopping the operation of reciprocating steam engines without it being necessary to shut off the main steam supply to said engine.

Another pbject of the invention is to provide a mechanism which may be associated with the cylinder valve mechanism and governor of a reciprocating steam engine employing the well known Corliss type of valve mechanism, the mechanism of the invention being so constructed and arranged that during the normal operation of the engine, the governor mechanism will control the operation of said valve mechanism in the usual well known manner, but ii, in the event of an emergency, it is desirable to quickly stop the engine, the mechanism of this invention permits the cylinder valve mechanism to be disconnected from the governor mechanism and said valve mechanism will be operated to hold the cylinder inlet valves permanently closed and the engine will, therefore, immediately come to a stop.

The invention consist-s in the combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and particularly as pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings: 7

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a portion of the cylinder end of a Corliss type reciprocating steam engine, the mechanism comprising my invention being illustrated in connection therewith.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows on said line.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of that portion of the mechanism employed for disconnecting the valve operating mechanism from the governor mechanism.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the mecha nism illustrated in Fig. 3.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Application filed December 14, 1923. Serial No. 680,746.

in the drawings, A represents a portion of the cylinder end of a Corliss type engine, B is the cylinder and represents, in general, the governor mechanism, the latter embodying therein the usual governor balls 0.

sents the wrist plate, G theeccentric rod for operating the wrist plate, H the main steam supply pipe and It the steam supply valve.

The valve mechanism D embodies therein a knock-oft cam 03 loosely mounted upon a valve stem al a bell crank lever (P also loosely mounted upon the valve stem al a grab hook (Z mounted upon one arm of the bell crank lever d and a drop lever (Z keyed to the valve stem (Z bell crank lever (Z is operatively connected with the wrist plate F through the medium of a connecting rod (Z The valve mechanism E embodies therein a knock-oil cam e loosely mounted upon a valve stem 6 a bell crank lever 6 also loosely mounted upon the valve stem 6 a grab hook e mounted upon one arm of the bell crank lever e and a drop lever e keyed to the valve stem 0 The other arm or the ball crank lever e is operatively connected with the wrist plate F through the medium of "a connecting rod 6 All of the mechanism thus far mentioned is old and well known in the art, and the mechanism which constitutes the new feature of this invention is so associated with the hereinbefore described mechanism that the latter will continue to operate in the usual well known manner.

The cams (Z and e of the valve mechanisms D and E respectively are operatively connected through the medium of trip rods and 6 respectively with a lever 7 which is loosely mounted upon a shaft 8 mounted to rock in a bearing 9 formed integral with and projecting laterally from a governor standard 10. The tr rod 5 is connected to the upper end of the lever 7 at 11, while the trip rod 6 is connected to the lower end of the lever 7 at 12. Also-mounted upon the rock shaft 8 and located between the lever 7 and bearing 9 is a lever 13, and the latteris keyed to said rock shaft 8 in such a manner as to always permit said lever to rock in The other arm of the unison with the rock shaft 8. A locking lever 14 is pivotally mounted at 15 to the lever 13 and said locking lever has a key 13 pivotally attached thereto at 17. The lever 13 has a lrey way 18 formed therein, \VllliG the lever 7 has a key way 19 formed therein, and when said levers are located in their normal positions as illustrated in l i, s. 1 and 4-, the key l8 and 19 align witl each other and said levers are locked securely together in order that they may rock in unison through the medium of the key 16 which is located in said hey v s as illustrated in Fig. The locking lever positioned through the medium of a arm 20 formed integral with the lever and a spring 21 extending between the locking lever ll and the hub portion of the lever 13 normally acts to always pull the free end of the locking lever l i downwardly and hold the key in the key ways 18 and 19. A

L\) suitable flexible member 22, as for example, a chain, wire, or cord, is connected to the free end of the locking lever fi l and extends therefrom to and over a suita ile pulley 23 rotatably mounted upon the governor stand ard 10, and said flexible a: branches thereof may extend to any suitable point or points from which it may be de sired to quickly ope "ate said locking lever with the object in view of stopping the engine.

A spring 24: is connected atone end thereof at 25 to one end of the lever 13 while the other end of said. spring is connected at 11 to the upper end of the lever 7. A spring 26 is connected at one end thereof at 27 to the lever 13, while the other end of said spring is connected at 12 to the lower end of the lever 7 and said springs 24 and 26 are under tension and always acting to pull the ends of the levers between which the springs extend toward each other, and when the lever 7 is disconnected from the lever 13, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. said springs will act to pull the trip rods and 6 in the direction of the arrows illustrated in Fig. 4.

A lever 28 is rigidly fastened in any suitable manner to the rear end of the rock shaft 8 and one end of said lever is operatively connected through the medium of connecting rod 29 with an arm 30 of a sleeve 31 forming a part of the governor mechanism E. The sleeve 31 is loosely mounted upon a governor shaft 32, and said sleeve has a pair of said arms 30 formed integral therewith. said arms being oppositely dirposed and located in slots 33 provided at the upper end of the governor standard 10. The other end of the lever 28 is connected through the medium of a rod 34 with a suitable-dash pot not illustrated in the drawings, but well known to those skilled in the art.

The general operation of the i'nechanism hereinbefore specifically described is as fol lows :Durin the normal operation of the engine, the valve niechanisn'is l? and E are operated in the usual well known manner to control the admission of steam to the cylinder B, through the cylinder inlet valves, the bell crank levers (Z and e and t ieir respec tive grab hooks (Z and 6 being operated from the wrist plate F, through the medium of the connecting rods 7 and 6, while the governor mechanism C operatively connected to the cams (Z and 6, through the medium of the connecting'rod 29, lever 23, rock shaft 8, lever 13, looking lever l-l, key 16, lever 7 and trip rods 5 and 6, acts in the usual well known manner to change the point of the cut-off by varying the position of the cams a? and e, the connections being such that a raising of the governor balls 0 due to the increased speed of the engine, will reduce the cut-off and thus slow down the engine, while on the other hand, a falling of the governor balls will lengthen the cut-off through the same mechanism.

The usual method of entirely stopping the engine is to utilize the steam valve 72, thereby shutting off the main steam supply through the pipe H to the steam chestpbiit as this method is slow, in cases of en'iergency, the locking lever 14 is operated either by piiilling the chain 22 connected thereto, or by grasping the free end thereof, and the key 16 is lifted from the key ways 18 and 1 9 of the levers 13 and 7 respectively, thereby disconnecting the lever 7 from the lever 13. The lever 7 being: loose upon the rock shaft 8, and the springs 24 and 26 being under tension, said springs will actto rock the lever 7 upon said shaft 8 and move the connecting rods 5 and 6 in the direction of the arrows, Fig. 4-, thereby rocking the cams (Z and e of the valve mechanisms D and E respectively a suflicient distance to permanently unhook the cylinder inlet valves and as the latter at such times are closed, the en gine will quickly come to a stop.

It will of course be understood that the actual time which elapses in bringing the engine to a complete state of rest is influenced somewhat by the load that the engine is carrying.

It will also be understood that there are other embodiments of the Corliss valve mechanism besides that illustrated and de scribed in connection with this application and the same is likewise true of the governor mechanism, but the general principle of all of these mechanisms is practically the same and the mechanism for disconnecting the valve mechanism from the governor mechanism and for permanently unhooking the cylinder inlet valves as disclosed in this ap plication can be employed equally well with all of the various mechanisms in common use, all of which are well known to those familiar with this art.

I claim:

1. In a reciprocating steam engine, a cylinder valve operating mechanism, a shaft, a governor mechanism operatively connected to and adapted to rock said shaft, a lever rigidly fastened to said shaft, another lever loosely mounted upon said shaft and operatively connected to said valve mechanism, means to lock said levers together whereby they may move in unison to operate said valve mechanism, means to unlock said levers one from the other and means to operate said valve mechanism to hold the inlet valves thereof permanently closed when said levers have been unlocked one from the other, thereby causing said engine to stop.

2. In a reciprocating steam engine, a cylinder valve operating mechanism, a shaft, a governor mechanism operatively connected to and adapted to rock said shaft, a lever rigidly fastened to said shaft, another lever loosely mounted upon said shaft and operatively connected to said valve mechanism, a locking mechanism mounted upon one of said levers and adapted to lock said levers together whereby they may rock in unison to operate said valve mechanism, means to operate said locking mechanism to disconnect said levers one from the other and means to rock said loosely mounted lever upon said shaft and thereby operate said valve mechanism to hold the inlet valves thereof permanently closed, thereby causing said engine to stop.

8. In a reciprocating steam engine, a cylinder valve operating mechanism, a shaft, a governor mechanism operatively connected to and adapted to rock said shaft, a lever rigidly fastened to said shaft, another lever loosely mounted upon said shaft and operatively connected to said valve mechanism, a locking lever pivotally mounted upon a 

